I’ll be co-tutoring on this course, with a mixture of presentations and hands on practical computer-based sessions.

Aimed at first year HSS PhD students, this course offers information and techniques to equip students with the essential skills for PhD research. We cover search tips and strategies for databases, good practice in literature searching and managing bibliographies using Endnote.

The Bibliographie de civilisation médiévale aims to provide a comprehensive, current bibliography of monographs. The database currently comprises 40,000 titles from 1958 to 2003; i.e. the whole of the relevant elements from the famous bibliography in the Cahiers de civilisation medieval.

The International Medieval Bibliography is the leading bibliography of articles concerning the European Middle Ages (c. 450-1500), drawn from the regular coverage of over 4,500 periodicals and miscellany volumes. Not only does the IMB provide full bibliographical information to the entries from the publications, but it provides a comprehensive cataloguing and indexing system to assist the user in identifying all relevant entries.

Based upon the most important encyclopaedia in the world for medievalists, the International Encyclopaedia for the Middle Ages and Lexikon des Mittelalters contain articles written by 3,000 authors covering all aspects of medieval studies within the period 300 to 1500. Their geographical scope covers the whole of Europe, part of the Middle East, and parts of North Africa to document the roots of Western culture and those of its neighbours in the Byzantine, Arab and Jewish worlds.

Covering the literature of church history from antiquity up to the 20th centuries , the Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique – Bibliographie indexes journal articles, books and reviews. Entries contain links to full text in Brepols publications such as Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques and to some full text journal sources. They are published chiefly in French and English, and occasionally in German.

The Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques is an invaluable reference source on the history of the Christian church, with 70,000 entries covering individuals, ecclesiastical institutions, and church history by geographical region.

The NexisUK Database is currently available on trial to University of Edinburgh users until 11 March 2013. Access is on campus via the eresources trials page. Please give us your feedback!

NexisUK is a very large news repository which is also very strong on international sources. The database has more than 20,000 news and business sources, including leading French, Spanish, German and American newspapers (Le Monde, Der Spiegel, New York Times, La Stampa, Times of India, Moscow Times etc) as well as many trade publications (Forbes, Accountancy Age, Business Week, Fortune, Economist, Economist Intelligence Unit reports etc).

Oxford Scholarship Online Classical Studies titles published in 2012, and any published so far in 2013 are now available on trial access to University of Edinburgh Users. Access is available on campus and off campus via the VPN. The trial ends on 12 March. See the eresources trials web page for more information.

Come and join us in Innovative Learning Week for Yesterday’s News – Today’s Research, 11:00am-12:00 noon – Room 2.36 School of History, Classics and Archaeology.
In this hands-on session on historical newspaper resources online, find out where to find newspapers online, what’s available and how to search. There will also be a chance to try out newspaper resources currently on trial and a quiz with prizes! Open to Divinity and HCA students. Book via MyEd (Places are restricted to 14). Can’t attend the session? View the presentation slides on slideshare.

Proquest’s Dissertations & Theses database is now available on trial for University of Edinburgh users until on March 9, 2013.

We have been subscribing to Proquest’s Dissertations & Theses – Abstracts & Indexes for some time now. This new trial gives access to the full subscription which offers full text for graduate works added since 1997, along with selected full text for works written prior to 1997.

Context of Scripture Online is now available on trial access to University of Edinburgh Users. Access is available on campus and off campus via the VPN. The trial ends on 19 February. See the eresources trials web page for more information.

Context of Scripture Online is a reference work aiming to provide access to a broad, balanced, and representative collection of Ancient Near Eastern texts that have an impact on the interpretation of the Bible. These ancient Egyptian, Semitic, Akkadian and Sumerian writings form the rich background to the literature of the Hebrew Bible.

Jewish Historical Newspapers via ProQuest are now available on trial access to University of Edinburgh Users. Access is available on campus and off campus via the VPN. The trial ends on 1 March. See the eresources trials web page for more information.